New Patents Surface
Honda has made killer V-twin bikes in the past, and it could have another one in the works. The company recently filed some patents for a new V-twin naked bike. The bike was spotted by RideApart. The documents show a “plurality of cylinders in a V-type arrangement.” At first, I thought this could mean a V4 engine, but later in the documents mention two pistons specifically.
There’s no mention of displacement, power numbers, cylinder angle, or any of that other great stuff, but you can see from the image above of the V-twin orientation. This kind of bike would make sense for the Neo-Cafe lineup, but the patent drawing doesn’t really look like it fits there. It seems more retro or classically styled. The engine doesn’t look that big, so I wonder if Honda is planning a small-to-medium displacement naked V-twin. Of course, that could just be the drawing giving me that impression.
The patent was filed in February 2018 and only published at the end of April. It’s unclear if Honda is definitely going to make this bike. I would assume that many of the plans for new bikes like this will be put on hold in the wake of the COVID-19, but I’d love it if Honda could make this bike happen.
If this is an updated Honda Hawk GT to compete with Suzuki’s SV650, I think it’d be pretty cool! Though I do wish it’d have the single-sided swingarm, too.
I’m all for a new Honda Hawk GT. It’s about time Suzuki’s SV650 has a real competitor.